Sending a press release: the right timing, list and approach

How newsrooms work

Once you understand how a newsroom runs, you automatically understand when and how to send. A journalist at a national outlet receives roughly a hundred or more press releases every day. Before your release becomes an article, they have to notice it in that stream, judge its news value, often check with a colleague or editor-in-chief, and find room for it in the planning.

Every step takes time that simply isn't there on Friday afternoon. That's why timing isn't a detail but one of the biggest levers you control yourself.

The best timing for your press release

Presscloud's sending data shows: releases sent on Tuesday in the morning get the highest open rates.

The logic behind it: the earlier in the news week, the more time a newsroom has to cover your story that same week. A release sent at 4 PM on Friday sits under a pile of new email by Monday.

Three additional timing rules:

• Step aside for big news. If one story dominates the news (a disaster, a government collapse), postpone. Your release will lose anyway.
• Use the slow news season. In summer and around holidays the news supply dries up and the odds of softer news getting published go up.
• Regional media and magazines have longer lead times. Approach a local weekly or monthly magazine at least two weeks before your desired publication date.

Sending under embargo

Want media to publish simultaneously at an agreed moment, for example at a launch? Then send under embargo: put "EMBARGO UNTIL [date, time]" above the release and send it one to a few days in advance. Journalists can then prepare. Embargoes only work for news that's worth it; use them sparingly.

Building your press list

A press list is the list of journalists who receive your release. The biggest misconception: the longer the list, the better. The opposite is true. A release about a foodtech startup landing with a sports journalist costs you sender reputation and delivers nothing.

Here's how to build a list that works:

1. Select by beat, not by outlet. You're not looking for "De Telegraaf" but for "the journalists who write about business and tech", whichever outlet they're at. Explore who publishes per field through the overviews of, say, tech journalists and food journalists, or per title through the media pages such as that of De Telegraaf. In the Presscloud database of 79,894 journalists you filter directly by topic and region, and AI Press Lists automatically suggests a matching list based on the content of your press release.
2. Mix big and small. National media give reach, trade media and regional titles give a higher chance of publication and are often the stepping stone: national journalists read trade media.
3. Add your own contacts. Journalists who covered you before belong at the top of the list, with a personal note. Manage them in the PR CRM so you keep the history per contact.
4. Don't buy ready-made lists. Purchased lists are outdated, not filtered for your topic and generate spam complaints that hurt your future mailings.

The email itself

The email carrying your press release is almost as important as the release itself:

• Subject line: the news in eight to ten words at most. Never the words "press release" in the subject line.
• The release goes in the body of the email. No PDF, no Word attachment. Every extra click lowers the chance your release gets read.
• A short personal intro. Two or three sentences above the release: what's the news and why does it fit this journalist. You'll learn how to write that intro on Pitching journalists, and Personalised Pitches in Presscloud generates a fitting introduction per journalist.
• Images via a link. Royalty-free, high resolution, in an external folder or your Newsroom. Never as an attachment: heavy emails end up in spam.
• Sent individually. Never a visible cc with fifty newsrooms. Distribution software sends each recipient their own email.

Following up without annoying

After sending, one flow applies: wait a week, then send one short, polite follow-up email asking whether the journalist has had a chance to look at the release. Nothing more. You only call for time-sensitive news, and never to ask "whether your email arrived".

In Presscloud you see who opened your release and who clicked your image link. Those journalists are your logical first follow-up candidates: they've shown interest but haven't published yet.

Measuring results

Every mailing is a lesson for the next one. Three layers:

1. Sending statistics: open rate and click rate per campaign. If your open rate is structurally low, look at your subject lines and list relevance first.
2. Publications: Media Monitoring shows where your release was picked up. Through Presscloud, customers' stories appeared in De Volkskrant, NU.nl, RTL and De Telegraaf, among others.
3. Knock-on effect: traffic to your site around publication dates and the source new leads mention.

Sending checklist